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This is me.........Liz

Tuesday, 24 August 2010

Titanic trip.....

No, not a giant trip, a trip to the Titanic Artefact Exhibition at The Melbourne Museum......

I had booked ages ago so that we could go while John was on holiday and yesterday was it. We headed off on the train to the Big Smoke and were extremely lucky that it was the only day for a couple of weeks that it didn't rain! Today is looking like rain again so we seem to have timed it well there..!

No photographs allowed once you were inside the exhibition but as everyone entered the ship there was a 'boarding' area that had a green screen backdrop. Everybody boarding had to have a photograph taken for their 'boarding pass'!

Each person was given a boarding pass (no photo on there) in the name of an actual passenger.....

..I was delighted to see that 'I' was still named Elizabeth and I was only 9 weeks old, traveling with my mother, father and brother, so there was a reasonable good chance that 'I' survived..! John was a 32yr old Norwegian named Daniel Gronnestad, on his way back to Portland, North Dakota from a trip to his homeland..!

The exhibition is a timeline of the last day of the ship, along the way are the artefact's in temp controlled display boxes. There is a replica 1st class corridor and of course the famed 'Grand Stairway' where I looked and looked for Leonardo but couldn't find him anywhere so my railway man decided we would have a photograph taken of the two of us instead..!

I was a little overawed I think when looking at some of the artefact's recovered from the ship, some marbles that a child had played with, dishes, clothes, watches, personal things that signified life and pleasure. A young girl, probably about 13/14, behind us looking at a large watertight door remarked to her (I presume) mother - "Why don't they just bring the whole thing up so everyone could wander around it". Her mother made some remark about it costing too much money...??? The temptation to turn around and tell them how stupid that remark was, that the whole thing is a mass grave site, that people died there, it's not just a wreck it's a memorial, was so strong I had to walk away!!

The thing that really made it personal for me was the list of passengers and crew at the end of the exhibit, did 'you', your persona on the boarding pass, live or die..???

Daniel Gronnestad didn't, he went down with the ship.....

Bertram Frank Dean (Elizabeth's father) didn't, he went down with the ship.....

Elizabeth Gladys Dean "Milvina" however, was not only the youngest survivor she went on to be the oldest living survivor, passing away in May of 2009 at the grand age of 97years..!! I felt privileged to have 'been' her for a couple of hours...

8 comments:

Oh Lizzie, I would love to see this exhibition...I am fasinated by all things about the " Titanic ".Elizabeth Gladys Dean "Milvina" had a good long life, and you must feel very special to have been her for a few hours!I wonder who I would be!Julia ♥

Oh Lizzie I just love this post. I have been fascinated by all things Titanic for as long as I can remember. I have the DVDs of every film and Television version ever made and books on the subject. Thank you so much for sharing this adventure. Take care.